Konoha's Lonely Wolf
by DhampyrX2
Summary: Naruto was being mistreated and ignored for most of his early life in the village hidden in the leaves. worse yet, he was ignored by those that should have cared the most for him, his own surviving family. Lucky for him, his uncle Shiranui Genma has seen
1. Prologue

Title: Konoha's Lonely Wolf

Author: DhampyrX2

Genre: Drama/humor X-over

Rating: PG-13 to R at some point

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. Don't sue me, I'm poor.

Summary: Naruto was being mistreated and ignored for most of his early life in the village hidden in the leaves. Worse yet, he was ignored by those that should have cared the most for him, his own surviving family. Lucky for him, his uncle Shiranui Genma has seen enough. Of course Konoha's #1 bachelor jounin can't raise a small child due to the danger in his job. But, his dear cousin Mai and her husband Andy, who live beyond the boundaries of the elemental territories, are willing to step up where the rest of Naruto's family has failed.

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"indicates speech"

_indicates thought_

**indicates Kyuubi speak**

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"Demon! Monster! Miserable Wretch!" the calls carried as five year old Uzumaki Naruto ran for his life while being chased a several angry villagers. The boy once again wondered just what he did to anger people as they tried to corner him in an alleyway. Fortunately for the boy who dreamed of one day being the Hokage, he was small and clever and was able to crawl through a small hole in the corner of the wooden fence in the alleyway and escape to safety.

Unfortunately for the villagers, several jounin and ANBU loyal to the Sandaime and his orders were attracted by the disturbance and were more than willing to take the small mob in for questioning over their behavior.

Once they were cleared out, two jounin remained to see that the boy made it safely back to his new apartment without letting him know he was being watched. It just wouldn't do for him to grow too dependant on his bodyguards in the face of a life as a shinobi in the future.

Truthfully, the thought that Naruto was living on his own at that age because the Hokage could no longer find a proper person willing to care for him that the Council would approve of made one jounin in particular, namely Shiranui Genma, sick to his stomach and angry as hell all at once. He, more than most, understood just how important Naruto truly was to the village and its people. Genma knew of the Kyuubi no Kitsune Naruto protected them from simply by living to act as the cage and jailer for the legendary beast, of course, but he knew more than that. He knew what few outside of the Hokage and the Council knew. He knew Naruto was the Yondaime's only son. Of course it would figure that Genma would know that, his sister Shiranui Yuki had been the blonde ball of childish energy's mother, after all.

Once he and his partner for the operation, in this case one Mitarashi Anko, had seen the boy enter his hovel of an apartment and struggle to make himself some instant ramen his purple-haired companion left to make her report to Hokage-sama without so much as a word. The treatment of the blonde boy struck a chord in her as well and she didn't want to remain in sight of the child long enough recall how the ignorant people of Konoha had treated the apprentice of a certain S-class missing-nin until she got tough enough to scare them into leaving her alone.

Genma stayed long enough to frown at the lonely child as he watched him through a window from across the street before he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

_This just isn't right, damnit. I can almost excuse the rest of the damn village for their ignorance, but how can our clan do this to him? We're shinobi, not mindless civilians._ Genma ranted in his head as he chewed on one of his ever present weapons of choice, the senbon needle.

Of course, he knew why the Shiranui clan did not claim Naruto. In their eyes he had three major strikes against him. First, and least important to them, truthfully, was the Kyuubi. Second was his gender. The Shiranui clan specialized in kunoichi that used seduction to gather information and assassinate their targets. They worked from the shadows with coy smiles and promises of pleasure. Hell, they were upset at **him** for training to be a shinobi beyond the rank of genin. Graduating the Academy for appearances was all well and good, but in the eyes of the Shiranui the only thing he was good for was making more kunoichis to mold. The very idea he would become an accomplised combat jounin was detestable to them. The dangers of the life of a combat jounin could put his all important Shiranui kunoichi producing seed into jeopardy. It was also why they claimed he was unsuitable to care for his sister's son. After all, he could perish on a mission and leave the boy orphaned all over again at any moment.

It was the final 'sin' Naruto committed in the clan's eyes that made Genma want to scream in frustration, though. Namely, Naruto was born. Oh, they weren't upset that Yuki gave birth to the Yondaime's heir, per se. They were upset that she defied her grandmother, the current clan head Shiranui Tsubaki, who had not given her approval of Yuki's relationship with Kazama Arashi or her insistence on remaining faithful to him alone. A Shiranui unwilling to use her body to seduce people wasn't worth bothering with in the eyes of the clan head. Naruto's very existence was proof that Yuki had defied convention just like Genma had.

And just like their great aunt Keiko had defied the clan. The elder sister Keiko had left Konoha and the Elemental Countries with her new husband Jubei decades ago rather than bow to clan pressures. In a way Naruto represented the resentment Genma's grandmother had toward her own sister who left her with the burdens of becoming the clan heir.

"Hmm. Great-aunt Keiko. That gives me an idea. Doesn't Mai-chan have a husband and a couple of kids now? I wonder if she might be willing to weigh in on what's happening to the kid?" Genma muttered to himself as he entered his apartment and headed right for his desk.

_Dear cousin Mai..._ he thought as he began to write a letter to his elder cousin Shiranui, now Bogard, Mai.

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/Two Weeks Later/

The day was not going well for one Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi. The Council had blocked his request to send more funds into Naruto-kun's expense account and had rejected five more candidates willing to take the poor boy in, including the owner of Ichiraku's Ramen stand and several well respected shinobi of lesser families. His favorite Icha Icha book had been found by his daughter and burned. He was out of his favorite imported tobacco for his ever-present pipe (something he hoped to one day convince Asuma was better smelling and more dignified than simple cigarettes.)

But the primary reason this was a bad day was an unexpected one for him. Namely there was a gorgeous kunoichi with huge breasts in his office. Unfortunately this occasion was neither a happy reunion with his former genin pupil Tsunade, nor was it anything more... pleasurable.

No, instead he was staring into the fierce eyes of one Bogard Mai, self-proclaimed Kunoichi of Love from the King of Fighters Tournaments the people outside of the Elemental Countries seemed to care so much about.

It was bad enough he was facing an _outsider_ for all intents and purposes. The citizens of the Elemental Countries took careful pains to associate with the outside world as little as possible, going to the lengths of maintaining a monstrous multi-national genjutsu that hid their entire territory from the unknowing. Although he had to admit to himself that Mai, a descendant of Shiranui Keiko, _was_ technically a citizen by proxy of Fire Country. She had even visited there a time or two when she was a young girl of about thirteen.

"How _dare_ you treat a child like this, much less a member of my family. Leaving him on his own at the age of **five**? I've never heard of anything so negligent and irresponsible in my life," Mai spat at the old man in front of her. She had arrived in Konoha all of three hours ago and was treated to the sight of her cousin's child being chased out of one store for wanting to buy food and being sold expired milk at a huge mark-up at another. Needless to say, she was less than pleased.

"Now, Shiranui-san, please. My hands were tied by the village council. The orphanage would no longer care for Naruto-kun, and the Council will not approve any of the caretakers I select so long as he has living family in the village. But really, he is a quite resourceful lad and this will help teach him the life lessons he will need to become a great shinobi," Sarutobi tried to explain.

"The village council can kiss my ass, Hokage-sama. Especially that old bat obaasama was forced to call her little sister. Do you really think I can't figure out why Genma-chan wasn't allowed to raise his own nephew? Naruto-kun's being punished for his mother violating the ridiculous edicts of those worms I'm ashamed to call my family set before her. If he had been born female you could be certain they'd have taken the child in. Yuki-chan must be turning over in her grave at what you've been allowing to happen to her child," Mai sneered at him with a look that promised serious pain for the village as a whole. Even Geese Howard would have taken a step back at the look in her eyes right then.

"I know the situation is unpleasant, but there is nothing more I can do right now to rectify the problem," Sarutobi finally snapped in irritation. He was no more pleased with Naruto-kun's treatment than she was. Couldn't she see that?

Mai looked strangely satisfied as she folded her arms under her generous chest and smiled at the old man before her. For some reason that sight was not nearly as pleasurable for Sarutobi as he would have thought it should be. "Lucky for you, I have a solution. I will be taking your _problem_ off of your hands," the kunoichi declared with certainty.

The Sandaime did not share her pleasure at that notion one iota as he adopted a stubborn posture and retorted, "Absolutely not. Naruto is a citizen of the village, a shinobi prospect, and a hero to us all with what he has endured no matter what the civilians of the village might see. He is NOT leaving." There was no way he was about to let Arashi's only son be taken not only from the village, but from the Elemental Countries all together. It was inconceivable.

"Oh, Naruto-kun is definitely coming with me, old man. With or without your approval," Mai replied with a sure certainty that only a wife and mother could muster when she knew she was right.

"Is that a threat?" Sarutobi bristled in agitation.

"Threat?" Mai asked innocently. "Of course not. It's a fact. I'm not going to fight you and these idiots to get Naruto-chan out of this hellhole you've left him in, Sarutobi. I'm going to take my case to the Daimyo of Fire Country. I think we can both agree that a blood relative willing to adopt Naruto, an abused child by every definition that is mostly hated in his current place of residence, will have more than enough right and authority to take him."

At that, Sarutobi knew he was beat. There was no way he could countermand an order from the Daimyo, and he knew all too well the man would give the boy up without a thought. Within the eyes of the law Mai had every right to claim the child.

Still, that didn't mean all was lost. "Perhaps we could come to a compromise, Mai-san," Sarutobi ventured earnestly.

"What KIND of compromise could I possibly be interested in at this point, Hokage-sama?" Mai asked with deep sarcasm.

"Well, the thing is, Naruto-kun holds a deep desire to become a shinobi of the Leaf. In fact, he desires to one day take my position from me. He can't do that from outside the village, now can he? Losing his dream like that would devastate the lad," Sarutobi explained.

"I can train him well enough in how to use chakra, and he'll learn more about martial arts from my husband and I, not to mention my brother-in-law, Higashi-san, Rock-kun, and several other friends we have then he could ever learn here. I might even be able convince Yagami Iori to help train him in how deal with his... tenant. Kagura Chizuru owes me a favor and she has a way of talking Iori-san into many things he'd normally refuse," Mai informed him imperially.

Sarutobi actually smiled as he responded, "Ah, but all that knowledge won't aid him in becoming the next Hokage."

"I'm not moving my family here, Hokage-sama. Keiko-obaachan left for a reason and I still abide by it," Mai replied in a monotone.

"Nor would I expect you to move here, Mai-san. But I think we can come to an arrangement. What if say, you take Naruto-kun for now, but promise to train him in at least the academy jutsus and history lessons. I can arrange for some copies of the Academy scrolls to be sent with you. All that I ask is that you return with Naruto-kun when he is thirteen so that he can take the Academy exit exam and become a genin. Then we will train him until he reaches the rank of chuunin. At that point what the child chooses to do will be up to him. Does that sound agreeable?" Sarutobi suggested.

"And what if Naruto-kun doesn't make chuunin? Men of the Shiranui clan don't tend to do well in the exams, Genma-chan excluded," Mai asked skeptically. "He takes the chuunin exam once, and then he gets his choice," she countered.

"That's not even plausible, Mai-san. Most genin fail the exam their first time. He should be able to take it five times at the very least," the Sandaime haggled.

"Three times, or I go to the Daimyo and make it zero," Mai responded flatly.

Sarutobi looked a little upset but finally nodded his agreement. "Deal," he announced with a nod of his head. "I'll have the paperwork for the agreement drawn up. If you like I'll summon Genma-kun and he can take you to meet your new son."

Mai smiled a smile that lit up the room and bounced a bit in place, much to the Sandaime's pleasure, as she replied, "That sounds wonderful. It will be so nice to finally get to see Genma-chan again. It's been so long. And I'm sure Naruto-kun will be so thrilled to learn he has a family."

Sarutobi smiled sadly as he glanced out the window to the face of the Yondaime on the Hokage monument for a moment and said, "Yes, I'm certain he will."

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"So, how bad is it really, Genma-chan?" Mai asked as she and her cousin roof hopped to Naruto's apartment.

"I didn't dare put how horrible they treat him into my letter, Mai-san," Genma replied only to recoil a bit at the frosty look Mai was giving him. "Gomen," he ammended, "Mai-neechan."

The kunoichi of love beamed as she responded, "That's better. You and Yuki-chan were always the only two people here I ever cared to call family. Well the only ones since I was never notified of Naturo's existence."

"Hokage-sama and Tsubaki-obaasama knew you'd claim the kid if you knew about him. Neither wanted it to happen for their own reasons. I had a hell of a time just notifying you he existed. It wasn't right, and I could ignore it while Naruto was cared for in the orphanage, since they treated him like a person even if they were indifferent to him. But once he was released and placed in his own apartment while I _knew_ the Council was blocking attempts to adopt him? Well, that was too far," Genma replied with a shrug.

Soon they reached a small and somewhat dirty apartment complex in one of the poorer neighborhoods of Konoha.

"Is this it?" Mai asked as she looked the area over carefully. She knew there wasn't a crime problem in the ninja village the way there had been in a place like Southtown (especially not with the Uchiha acting as the police force), but the air of desperation around her still made her feel wary.

"Yep. This is all the Council would spring for. They said he was small so he didn't need a bigger place to live," Genma seethed. Kami-sama he wanted to tell those old fossils off sometimes.

"Do you think he'll like me?" Mai asked, suddenly nervous as they approached Naruto's door.

Genma could only smile sadly as he responded, "I think he'll adore you. After all, you are family."

With that said, he knocked lightly on the door and the pair waited for a response.

"Yes?" a small voice finally asked timidly from behind the door. Young Naruto had already learned to be cautious about people who knocked at his place.

"Uzumaki Naruto, could you please open the door? We have official business to discuss with you," Genma responded formally as Mai just looked on in anticipation.

There was no response for a few tense seconds before the door barely opened a crack and a cerulean blue eye peeked out to regard the strangers at his door. He relaxed visibly when he saw the hitae-ate on Genma's head. Ninja never tried to hurt him in the streets. They even saved him a few times. It must be something to do with the old man if there was a ninja there.

"Does ojiisan need to see me?" Naruto asked with open innocence.

"Yes, but not quite yet, Naruto. Actually we need to talk to you for a moment first," Genma replied with a kind smile.

"About what?" the boy inquired in confusion.

"About you living here," Mai finally said as she entered the conversation for the first time.

"Why, did the landlord lady get Hokage to make me leave like she said? I said I was sorry for the fire. They never let me cook for myself at the orphanage. It was an accident! Honest!" the Kyuubi vessel pleaded.

"No, no, no. That's not what I mean Naruto-chan. What I meant was do you want to live here alone?" Mai explained to the frightened child.

"Where else would I live?" Naruto asked in confusion as he scratched his head and tried to understand what the pretty lady before him was asking.

"Well, I was thinking you could come live with me," Mai said with a smile.

"Huh? But I don't even know you. Why would you want me to live with you?" the boy asked, even more confused.

Mai had tears in her eyes as she replied, "Well, you see, Naruto-chan. We're family. I'm your kaasan's cousin Mai. This man with me is your ojisan, Shiranui Genma."

"But I don't have any family. They said so at the orphanage. That's what bein' an orphan means. You ain't got any family," the boy stated.

"Your parents have passed on, Naruto-kun, that's very true. But Genma-chan and I are both members of your family. The council said he couldn't take you in because he's a single jounin and his life is too dangerous, so he called me so that I could ask if you wanted to come with me," Mai explained.

"Wow! You're a jounin, Genma-ojisan?" Naruto asked with bouncy enthusiasm.

Genma almost lost his emotionless facade as his nephew called him uncle for the first time. "Hai. I'm one of the first male jounins in our family, Naruto-kun," he responded with a smile.

"And I get to live with you and Mai-san now learn about being a ninja, and maybe learn to be Hokage someday because the old man said I could if I really tried hard and then everyone would respect me like they do him," the boy began to babble on as he started to grasp that something good was happenning to him.

Mai held in a winch as she put her hand on the boy's shoulder and said, "That's not exactly right, Naruto-chan. I asked if you wanted to live with _me_ not with Genma-chan."

"Huh?" Naruto asked confused again. "But I thought you guys were family. Doesn't a ninja family all live together in the nice part of the village?" he asked.

"Not always. Genma-chan and I are both part of the Shiranui clan, but only he lives in Konoha. I live in a far away place called Japan with my husband Andy, and my daughter Kimiko, and my son Ataru. You would come to live with me there, and I'd adopt you and I'd be you kaasan, Andy would become your tousan, Kimiko would be your new oneechan, and Ataru become your ototochan," Mai elaborated with a reassuring grin.

Naruto thought long and hard over what the pretty lady had to say before he inquired, "You mean I'd have ta' leave Konoha?"

Mai could hear the shock and disappointment in his voice as he spoke. It was clear he was already developing the unhealthy disdain most in the Elemental Countries had for the outside world even at this young age. She sighed a bit as she answered, "Yes, Naruto-chan. You would have to leave Konoha to live with me."

"But then how would I become Hokage and get everyone to respect me?" the boy asked in obvious distress.

Genma took that moment to chime in as he said, "Well, Hokage-sama got Mai-neechan to agree to bring you back here just before the genin exams for the kids your age in the Academy and let you take them. You could still become and ninja and be on your way to becoming Hokage. You just would have a family around you until then and you wouldn't have to deal with things like when you had to run from the villagers two weeks ago."

Naruto looked ashamed as he asked, "You saw that?" thinking it was his fault the way the adults had claimed it was.

"Hai," Genma confirmed. "I was one of the Jounin that made sure they were punished for acting that way. It wasn't your fault, Naruto-kun. From what I've seen it rarely is," he assured the boy.

Naruto paused to process all he had just learned for a few more seconds before he asked hopefully, "So you'll be my kaasan, Mai-san?"

Mai nodded happily as she answered the inquiry. "Hai, Naruto-chan. I'll be your new kaasan, if you'll have me."

Her answer was something Naruto had only seen at the playground before until he was chased out of it be villagers. The boy ran to her and hugged her legs tightly as he happily shouted "Kaasan! I have a kaasan!"

Mai started to cry a bit in happiness as she kissed the top of Naruto's head and replied, "Yes you do, my son. Yes you do,"

END PROLOGUE


	2. Chapter 1

Title: Konoha's Lonely Wolf

Author: DhampyrX2

Genre: Drama/humor X-over

Rating: PG-13 to R at some point

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. Don't sue me, I'm poor.

Summary: Naruto was being mistreated and ignored for most of his early life in the village hidden in the leaves. Worse yet, he was ignored by those that should have cared the most for him, his own surviving family. Lucky for him, his uncle Shiranui Genma has seen enough. Of course Konoha's #1 bachelor jounin can't raise a small child due to the danger in his job. But, his dear cousin Mai and her husband Andy, who live beyond the boundaries of the elemental territories, are willing to step up where the rest of Naruto's family has failed.

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"indicates speech"

_indicates thought_

**indicates Kyuubi speak**

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/Twelve Years Later/

"I've got you this time, Rock-niichan," Bogard Naruto warned with a smirk as he tested himself in a spar with his Uncle Terry's first, and arguably best, student.

"We'll see, kiddo. You haven't won yet," the son of Geese Howard taunted with a matching smirk of his own. He remembered something his young sparring partner had apparently forgotten. Namely that the younger boy had snuck away from his family's compound outside of Okayama to meet Rock and fight him in the empty lot they currently occupied. When one considered that Naruto's mother, Bogard Mai, had little to no desire to see her son end up a battle junky like his uncle (and his father too if she was being honest with herself and not watching Andy like a hawk) and had forbade him from sneaking away for a spar without someone to watch him after he took off for nearly a month when he was eight to train with his Terry-ojisan, well let's just say Naruto was in for an earful when the kunoichi in question saw the boy anywhere near someone associated with her brother-in-law that she had not signed off on.

In fact, Terry still had to ask permission, in writing, to visit his brother and his family more than two weeks in advance after the last time Andy took Naruto and his little brother Ataru with him for a 'Boy's Day Out' that ended up with the whole lot bruised, bloodied, and filthy for a formal dinner with the rest of the Japanese branch of the Shiranui Ninjitsu Clan. That incident had only been two years ago, and Andy was still sleeping on the couch whenever Mai thought about it for too long. (Not that he ended up all that lonely on the couch most of those nights. Mai had to give the man _something_ to think about besides fighting, after all. A fact that taught the Shiranui children to bypass wherever their parents were supposed to be sleeping in if they needed to use the restroom or get a drink of water. The mental trauma of seeing what their parents got up to just never leaves a child if they witness it.)

"Today is the day that I beat you, Niichan. Burn Knuck-" Naruto began only to be cut off as someone pulled back on the collar of his dark orange gi, cut to look like a miniature version of his father's, and held him to dangle in the air.

"I thought I might find you here," came the steely words of Bogard Mai as she held her middle child aloft.

Naruto kicked pathetically in the air in a vain attempt to get free. In reality he knew how to get down several different ways from his current position, but he also knew that the more pathetic he looked, the better his chances of reducing his punishment. Finally he ceased his struggles and grinned sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head with his right hand, just under his long bushy blond ponytail, and asked, "Hiya, kaasan. What brings you out here today?"

"Bogard Shiranui Kazama Naruto, what did I tell you about sneaking off like this?" was the kunoichi's icy response.

Naruto winced at bit as his mother continued to hold him in the air. She had used his full name, complete with both his birth clan names. He was in it deep now. "Um, not to wander off without someone to watch me?" he asked uncertainly.

Mai smiled dangerously as she replied, "That's right. So what do you have to say for yourself?"

"Um, Rock-niichan is here to watch me?" Naruto ventured with carefully crafted faux innocence, only to see the last images of his sparring partner's angel wing jacket as Rock rounded the corner to leave the young Bogard to his fate. "Traitor! Coward! Athena fanboy!" Naruto cursed after the son of Geese Howard who had left him to his fate.

Mai just sighed tiredly as only a mother of three energetic kids could sigh. Kimiko wanted to start dating, and Naruto was very much his father's (and uncle's) son. Kami-sama help her if Ataru took after his oniichan in a few years. It was bad enough the deadline she had agreed upon with Sarutobi was coming up. Did she have to chase after her adopted middle child just to spend time with him before she had to send him back to the hell that was Konoha as well?

"We'll discuss this when we get home, young man," Mai stated with finality as she took Naruto by the ear and dragged him off, roof hopping no less, toward home with her son complaining and whining over the treatment the whole way.

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Naruto grumbled to himself about the general unfairness of the world as he scrubbed down the dojo floors by hand as part of his punishment for sneaking off, AGAIN, to spar. Why was he always the bad guy? His sparring partners always agreed to fight him. It wasn't his fault his family all loved the thrill of combat. Even his mother's face lit up when he managed to make her work for her victories against him.

Besides, he needed strong sparring partners to test himself against before he returned to Konoha. He could already beat his older sister, and he was too used to his mother's and father's styles alone, and they to his, to rely on them for an accurate gauge of his fighting abilities. Without a way to better mark his progress, how would he know if he was ready to face the challenges the more than likely hostile shinobi village would throw at him?

He understood he would return not only to the fear and hatred that had driven his Genma-ojisan to summon his kaasan to free him from Konoha, but he would also face the fear and loathing of being an outsider on top of it. And then, on top of that, his being raised by Keiko-sama's branch of the Shiranui clan would ruffle more than a few of the Konona Shiranui Clan's feathers, especially Tsubaki-sama's.

All in all, Naruto knew the road ahead of him would be a difficult one and he was worried he wouldn't be strong enough to face it as he was.

His ruminations were cut short as a throat was cleared off to his side and a voice called out, "Kaasan and tousan want to see you in the family room, otouto-chan."

"Hai, oneechan," Naruto answered back as he moved to put away his cleaning supplies and followed his sister Kimiko out of the dojo and back into the main house. He figured it was time for another round of lectures and punishment for him.

What he saw when he entered the family room was quite a shock for him, then. All around him were family, friends, and senseis of his. In fact almost everyone Naruto had ever met since Mai and Andy had adopted him was there. Terry Bogard, Joe Higashi, Rock Howard, Blue Mary, Kasumi Todoh, King, Chizuru Kagura, Iori Yagami - who had trained Naruto in how to direct the energy and rage of the Kyuubi trapped within him when it stirred, the Sakazakis, Kim Kapwhan and the Justice Team, his various friends from school (well those that were the kids of fighters and thus able to understand that he had to leave to go to a ninja village someday), even Genma-ojisan, they were all there.

"What's all this?" Naruto asked in confusion.

Mai had tears in her eyes as she replied, "It's your going away party, Naruto-chan. Genma-chan has been sent to collect you to go take the genin exam."

"Already? I thought I still had nearly a month?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"Hokage-sama thought it might help for you to have a couple of weeks before the exams to get to know some of your peers, Naruto-kun," Genma explained as he chewed on a senbon needle as usual. He had to say Naruto looked good. In fact, he looked like he could probably tear a top level genin squad, minus their jounin instructor of course, apart all on his own much less an academy student his own age. Even stunned as he was Naruto was settled into a neutral stance ready for an attack, and he had a tight reign on his chakra that kept Genma struggling to sense it at all. It was clear Mai and her husband had trained him well.

"Oh," Naruto responded, a bit shell shocked at the news. He supposed it made sense. Still the early departure just reinforced Naruto's earlier misgivings about his village of origin, he didn't dare think of it as home. How could you call a place that would spit on your birth father's dying request as he sacrificed his only son to protect you all home? Quite frankly it would take something miraculous to make Naruto stay any longer than either reaching chuunin or taking the exam three times.

"Now, now, this is no time for long faces. We're here to party. We even bought extra meat to keep Iori happy," Andy interjected from where he had put an arm around his wife's shoulders to support her. He bore his heartbreak and worry over his adopted son's impending journey a bit more stoically than Mai did. But heaven help them if his son was mistreated in any way and Andy heard about it.

From there the party began in earnest, including cake, ice cream, and gifts from the attendees. Naruto received everything from training weights, to technique scrolls, to the basic compliment of shinobi weapons such as kunai and shuriken from his uncle Genma. From his mother and sister he got a set of Shiranui battle fans, their shared weapon of choice, as well as a black belt/sash to use with his mother's Ryuu Enbu flaming spiral jutsu. His favorite gifts though, much to his mother's ire, were several sets of training/battle clothes tailored to look like his Uncle Terry's usual vestments but done in Naruto's favorite color of orange instead of red, complete with a 'Fatal Fury' baseball cap to top the look off.

Needless to say it took more than one person to restrain Mai from launching into a Chou Hissatsu Shinobi Bachi on her brother in law for his blatant attempt to turn her son into a battle junky clone of himself. Blue Mary cheering Mai on probably didn't help the situation, either.

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Several hours later as guests began to leave and the party started to wind down, Naruto found himself walking Iori-sensei to the gate.

"How's the furball, brat?" the insane Orochi warrior asked as he lit a cigarette with his cursed flames. He had had to wait until he was outside to light up as he had learned his lesson years ago about trying to smoke in Mai's home. Iori was crazy, but he wasn't stupid.

"Alright. I think he's still mostly asleep. How's the dragon-teme?" Naruto asked in response.

"Still dead. Or as dead as the Orochi gets," Iori responded evenly. After a few tense moments, the red-haired warrior asked, "You worried?"

Naruto knew what the curt inquiry was referring to as he answered, "Yeah. I mean they hated my guts there before I was an outsider. And I barely remember the place. If kaasan hadn't promised, I'd probably tell them to shove it."

"Fox still makes it hard to go back on your word?" Iori asked gruffly.

"That's what Chizuru-san says, anyway," Naruto affirmed.

"She's usually right," Iori agreed grudgingly.

"Yeah," Naruto echoed.

Soon after the pair reached the gate. "Thanks for coming, sensei. It means a lot to me," Naruto said with a bow.

Iori just grunted in response and started to walk off. He was a few paces away when he paused and said, "Kid? Don't worry about those bastards. You're more than they'll ever be able to handle. If they can't appreciate you, then to hell with them," without even turning around to face the young Bogard.

Naruto smiled, touched at Iori's uncharacteristic tenderness in his attempt to reassure the Kyuubi vessel as he replied, "Hai, Iori-sensei."

With his piece said Iori walked off into the night with a negligent wave of his left hand, his right buried into his jacket pocket, still not bothering to turn around to face Naruto.

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The next day was filled with much crying, mostly from Mai, Kimiko, and Ataru, as Naruto and Genma prepared for their journey back to Konoha.

"If they get too uppity you don't hesitate to put them in their place, otouto-chan," Bogard Kimiko instructed Naruto with a bear hug that nearly cracked his ribs, and mashed him into her growing... assets, much to his embarrassment. At sixteen, Mai and Andy's eldest child was already a stunner just her mother had been. She stood five foot seven, with the toned lines of a warrior in her custom battle uniform. It was similar to her mother's blur uniform, although she and Andy had both insisted on adding a skirt that was cut at the thighs for movement, a modified tank top to replace Mai's favored twin strips over her breasts, and a pair of bicycle shorts to go under her skirt. Her hair was dark brown like her mother's, but her stunning crystal blue eyes showed her mixed heritage nicely.

"You mean like I do with you, oneechan?" Naruto impishly inquired with a foxy grin.

"Little brat," Kimiko exclaimed with a giggle as she whapped her brother on the head with her battle fan.

Any further comments Naruto could make were cut short as Ataru latched on to him and began to bawl. "Don't go oniichan! You belong here with us!" the boy wailed.

"Hey there Ataru. Come on, calm down. You know I have to do this. Kaasan and I promised before I ever came here. And I can't go back on a promise, remember?" Naruto comforted as he pried the younger boy off of him.

Ataru still sniffled a bit as he wiped his nose on his sleeve and said, "'Cause the fox in your tummy can't break its word and the seal that holds it means you can't neither," the child recited from memory.

"That's right," Naruto praised as he ruffled his younger brother's blond hair. "Besides, it's not like I have to live there forever. It's just a couple of years," he assured his family.

"Assuming some hussy of a kunoichi doesn't catch your eye," Kimiko snorted as she crossed her arms defensively. That was one of her worst fears, that some girl not good enough for him would sink her claws in her brother without Kimiko there to protect him. Not that she felt _any_ girl would be good enough for her little brother.

"Hey now, you know most of the hussy kunoichi there are family. I don't go for stuff like that," Naruto joked as he gave his sister the red eye.

Genma had to hold in his own chuckle at the boy's comments. Oh yes, Naruto would definitely be getting under Tsubaki-sama's skin. The jounin could hardly wait to see just what shades of red the blonde would cause to spawn on her face in the coming years. "Enough of that, oigochan. We have to get going if we want to make it back on time," Genma gently rebuked.

Naruto looked like he wanted to protest but finally nodded in agreement. "Hai, ojisan," he acquiesced.

"Safe journey, son. I know you'll make us proud," Andy said with a nod of encouragement and a small hug for his middle child.

"Be careful, Naruto-chan. If you need us for anything, we'll be there as soon as possible. I promise," Mai fretted as she hugged her son just as tightly as Kimiko had earlier.

Naruto looked decidedly embarassed by all the affection as he squirmed a bit in his mother's arms and said, "I will, kaasan. Now let me go or you'll kill me before I even get there,"

"Oh! Gomen, Naruto-chan," Mai responded sheepishly as she released her now red-faced son.

"You always were a force to be reckoned with, Mai-neechan," Genma commented with a chuckle.

His jest was met with a steely gaze from both of Naruto's adopted parents as Andy said, "We expect you to watch out for him too, Genma-san. Please let the Hokage know that if anything happens to Naruto-kun while he's in Konoha's care that there will be several people here that will be most displeased. I assure you the Japanese branch of the Shiranui will be the tip of a very large iceberg."

Genma was torn on how to reply to that obvious threat. On one hand he knew that the handful of his family here couldn't do too much damage alone, although there would certainly be casualties if they put their minds to attacking Konoha. On the other hand, he knew they had powerful friends with certain reputations. The force they could spearhead could be troublesome to quite a few shinobi. There was also the fact he agreed with the sentiments behind the message. "I can't speak for the normal things that might go wrong on missions, but I assure you the Hokage and I will both do everything in our power to keep an eye on Naruto while he's in Konoha," Genma finally responded.

"We know you will, Genma-chan. We trust you. It's the rest of them we don't trust," Mai assured her cousin.

"I know," Genma replied sadly. His village had certainly earned every iota of mistrust the family before him displayed. He sometimes wondered if anything they did could ever absolve themselves of the sins they committed against the Yondaime's legacy, and his son. His face turned to Naruto as he asked, "You ready to do this, gaki?"

"Just try to keep up with me, Ojisan," Naruto replied with carefully hidden concern. He would keep up a brave face, but this was tearing him apart inside and he knew it.

"Well then, I guess we're off," Genma said as he made his way toward the gates of Mai and Andy's compound.

Naruto followed after his uncle, and only turned to look back once as he waved and shouted, "Bye everyone. I love you guys. I hope I'll see you soon," before he turned and disappeared into the surrounding trees with Genma.

"You think he'll be okay?" Andy finally asked after a few moments.

"Hai. He's our son. Of course he will be," Mai responded with conviction.

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"Welcome back, Naruto-kun," Sandaime greeted the child standing before him in his office. Genma had had just enough time to drop his nephew off before he had to leave for a patrol duty.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Naruto responded formally with a proper bow. His mother had drilled into his head to always show respect to the leaders of the hidden villages. It also helped him keep a cool distance from Konaha's leader, something that would make his eventual departure far easier.

Sandaime could pick up the cool detachment the boy was enforcing in his presence and it saddened him a bit. He knew Naruto would not be the same exuberant and naive child he had been nearly eight years ago that referred to Sarutobi as 'Ojiisan' and even 'Jiji' on occasion, but he found he missed that closeness with Arashi's son.

Speaking of Arashi, Naruto looked more like him every day even if he was dressed in what looked like a modified version of the traditional Shiranui Clan gi. The boy was an average height for his age with, but already carried himself like an accomplished fighter. His hair was a wild blonde mane that was grown out to ponytail length and held in place with a simple balck hair tie.

"So, how does it feel to be back?" Sarutobi asked as he tried to gauge the emotional state of the future genin.

"Most people that saw me coming in seemed afraid or wary of me **before** they noticed the cheek marks the Kyuubi left me with when otousama sealed it within me. I have to say the welcome has been less than warm," Naruto reported emotionlessly.

Sandaime looked appropriately abashed at the behavior of his citizens for a moment before he responded, "Well some tentativeness is to be expected. You are somewhat of a new face and we don't get many of those around here. Although I'm a bit surprised at how much information you seem to have about your, uh, condition."

Naruto actually scowled at the old man for a second before he reigned his temper in visibly. "My parents didn't see the point in hiding any kind of truth from me. If I'm to be a shinobi and expected to fight, kill, and possibly die for Konoha then I have the right to know who and what I am. I'm know of my birth family tree, what my father sacrificed to save these people, and just how little my mother's family outside of Genma-ojisan will want me here. I'm also aware of the law that forbids the older generations from telling my generation about the Kyuubi, but my parents aren't members of your village. They can say what they want. Besides they had to explain to my senseis that helped me learn to control the furball that he was there. It's hard to train me in control if I don't know what I'm learning about," Naruto explained.

"A good point, I suppose. Although I must ask just who Mai-san got to train you in how to control the Kyuubi?" Sarutobi replied a bit non-plussed.

"Yagami Iori taught me how to direct the rage and power of the beast in healthy directions when it manifests. Kagura Chizuru taught me to meditate and how to purge some of the more negative side effects a build up of the Kyuubi's chakra might create later in life, as well as helping to tighten up Yondaime-sama's seal. Father was a genius, but he was working on the fly. Kagura-sama had years to patch up the bits he didn't have the time or experience to think about. The best terms they could come up with for what we tried to accomplish was a controlled Riot of the Blood. The Kyuubi could drive me into a feral state if I become angry and desperate enough on my own when it's not dormant, but at least now I'll be able to distinguish friend form foe. From what we can tell the damned lazy baka has been asleep since otousama sealed it in me so that's just a guess but it's better than nothing," Naruto answered.

"Hmm," Sarutobi commented with a nod as he thought over the explanation. It was clear Naruto was reciting facts as he had been taught them until he referred to the Kyuubi as a 'damned lazy baka'. It was nice to see the child still had some spirit under his cold veneer. Still the fact that Naruto knew everything about who and what he was raised several concerns. Concerns that had to be addressed. "It sounds like your adopted family was very careful making certain you were well prepared for all things Naruto-kun."

"My family loves me. They had no reason not to prepare me for life," Naruto responded with a shrug.

"Indeed, although their frankness does bring up some concerns. You knowing about the Kyuubi is one troublesome thing. In reality it's only fair, but I had hoped to spare you the burden and stigma of that knowledge until you were older. There is another concern, however," Sarutobi began as he looked out the window to the face of Naruto's birth father etched in stone upon the Hokage monument, "Namely you knowing who your father is."

"And how is knowing who my father is a bad thing? You know, other than the fact that it shows just how ungrateful this town is to the man that saved them all?" Naruto asked hotly.

The Sandaime raised his hand to stall the boy's anger a bit as he replied, "It's not the village that concerns me, Naruto-kun. At least, not this one. Your father had many enemies. Enemies that feared him and would do anything to deny an offspring of his a chance to live out of either revenge or fear that you might one day reach or even surpass his levels as a warrior. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to keep the information of your heritage a secret for your own safety."

Naruto thought over the Old Man's words for a minute before he countered, "Part of my heritage. I'll keep quiet about otousama to any idiot on the street, but I can claim my rights as a child of the Shiranui, and I can tell anyone I trust about who my father is so long as they agree not to blab. I want the public to see that I'm a good fighter and know I'm born from the Shiranui so I can rub it in Tsuba_ka_'s face that there is another good male fighter in the family besides Genma-ojisan."

Sarutobi had to chuckle a bit at the boy's reference to his great-great aunt Tsubaki. He certainly wasn't the first to show pique with the rigid head of the Shiranui clan. "Agreed. And what of the Kyuubi?" the old man asked.

"Who I tell is my concern. I'm here to fulfill my promise to come back like Kaasan agreed to. I'm not going to hide who and what I am to make people feel better. I'm not here to make friends," Naruto answered with a stubborn look.

Sarutobi looked a little unsettled by the boy's words but he knew to look at him that this was the best he was going to get. "I suppose that's fair, Naruto-kun. Now, if there's nothing else, I suppose I can call someone to lead your apartment," he said as he moved toward his intercom to summon a shinobi.

"There is one thing, Hokage-sama," Naruto interjected, stopping the old man where he was.

"Oh, what's that, my boy?" the Hokage inquired.

"Am I still living in the same place the council stuck me before I left Konoha?" Naruto asked.

Sarutobi sighed as he nodded and replied, "Yes Naruto-kun. It's still yours after all this time."

"Probably couldn't rent it after the _demon_ kid spent a couple of weeks there," Naruto snorted to himself.

The Hokage diplomatically refrained from inforing the child that hsi statement of derision was entirely accurate.

"Anyway, I brought some money with me. I know you guys still use the old ryou system instead of yen, so Kaasan and Tousan had it converted into gold for me. They said it was good training to carry it and I could have you convert it into ryou. I was hoping you would take care of that so I could get a nicer place. Well, and that way the council won't have to worry about supporting me," Naruto informed the Hokage. With that said he took out three gold bars each weighing a kilogram a piece.

"That's quite sum of money, Naruto-kun," Sarutobi commented in a state of shock.

"Fighting tournaments, international stardom from the KoF, and the actual work the Shiranui do away from the public eye all pay pretty well. Remember, we don't have a village to act as the middle man for missions. And Keiko-sama was a pretty shrewd investor. Besides my parents wanted to make certain I was taken care of so they sent more than I needed. Kaasan remembered that merchants liked to overcharge me when I was too small to realize it," the blond replied.

"Well you have my word that I'll take this and set up an account for you so you can find appropriate accommodations. Until then will your old apartment still suffice?" Sandaime asked as he pocketed the gold bars.

"That's fine. Just make sure some of the people near the forest areas are willing to rent to me. I prefer to be away from the city," Naruto responded.

"I'll do what I can," Sarutobi assured him.

Once those matters were taken care of the Hokage finally reached his intercom and summoned a jounin to take Natuto to his old apartment.

"Ah, Anko-chan. Could you please escort Naruto-kun to his old home? He'll be staying there until I can help him arrange better accommodations," the Hokage ordered as a purple haired woman in a fishnet top, brown miniskirt, and tan trenchcoat arrived in his office.

Anko looked over to the boy for a moment before looking back to the Hokage and nodding her assent. "Come on, gaki. Let's get moving. The longer we take, the less time I have to hit the dango stand," the Jounin said as she motioned for Naruto to follow her.

Naruto just nodded in agreement as he followed her out the door and back into his life in Konoha.

End Chapter 1


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